Dogthinkers wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 02:52

Perhaps we need to find a host in some remote, and lawless, country

Instead of AutoHost we use OffShoreHost.

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Antarctic Host

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NingunOtro wrote on Thu, 16 February 2006 00:46

But you would still feel guilty for not doing it right, or wouldn't you? Do you need the law and a big stick to walk the right lane?

...

I personally find your comments extremely insulting and I expect others do too. I could argue very easily that what we have been describing *IS* the right lane. But I'll try to refrain from entering a subjective argument about moral 'rightness' and instead point out some of the hard cold facts about the situation.

I'm going to assume you wish the Stars community to survive. That requires new players... So... Good luck persuading Empire to release more serials! That's the only way that most potential new players will be able to walk this 'left lane' of yours. Copies on eBay are few and far between, and free serials like from the start of this thread are rarer still. Persuading Empire is a possibility that has pretty much disappeared, hence the very existence of this thread.

Perhaps you can get a result fom Empire where all before you have failed. I certainly hope so.

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NingunOtro wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 19:23

"Offshore hosts" belongs in the same moral category as offshore banking.

Lighten up amigo. Don't get me involved in the moral argument or I'll start an evolution vs creation thread. That offshore comment was a joke, not a suggestion. Did you not observe the smiley? I don't support piracy or hacking of any type. All my software, and there are many that cost me hundreds of dollars, is purchased and has legal serial numbers.

Personally, I think hacking opens pandora's box, and surely more bad than good will come out of it.
Take the recent post about the JRC4 file
http://starsautohost.org/sahforum/index.php?t=msg&th=263 6&start=0&rid=3&S=124f5e0fb9ad94c2d3ed49b0869863 04
I don't see this sort of thing as good for the Stars! community. All it takes is for a few bad people to get hold of the wrong information and the infection begins to spread.

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Very well then, NingunOtro. I acknowledge your post was not referring to the thread in general, it just looked that way.

Even so, the 'offshorehosts' posts were quite clearly a joke also - see the wink and grin smileys in every single post that referred to it? - so I feel even just in the context of these posts your response was way over the top, and implied a lack of moral fibre on the part of all the participants.

But hey, that's forums for you - sometimes posts get misinterpreted , and responses also, so occaisionally fighting breaks out over very little at all. Water under the bridge, perhaps you'd like to have a beer with me in *this* thread: http://starsautohost.org/sahforum/index.php?t=msg&th=186 6&start=0&rid=326&S=34dfeed9b5aac07c66e32670c2fe 0a82

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Dogthinkers wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 20:11

... so occaisionally fighting breaks out over very little at all.

Yeah, and you can take your Jihad BB fleets and shove em'. And that goes for your bombers too!

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BlueTurbit wrote on Thu, 16 February 2006 13:29

Dogthinkers wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 20:11 ... so occaisionally fighting breaks out over very little at all. Yeah, and you can take your Jihad BB fleets and shove em'. And that goes for your bombers too!

I plan to shove em' right into the orbit of your homeworld... That's if you don't surrender first

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Problem solved then. I really should learn smiley-language! I simply thought an answer to a conditional situation (the joking) could only be interpreted in the same conditional way. I'm sorry if this is not that obvious and the use of the bells and whistles is mandatory.

I certainly did not expect the kind of answer I got.

But don't you both start a fight on my account, i'd rather have that beer (if somebody else cares to pay the 12 month old electricity bills of course )

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multilis wrote on Thu, 16 February 2006 13:06

Quote: All it takes is for a few bad people to get hold of the wrong information Isn't the wrong information out there already? Autohost has upload and download passwords now for a reason. Knowing the structure would also allow someone to write a program that would do an integrety check to protect against hacks.

Perhaps. But then we don't know what the black hats know and what they don't know yet. It could be that every time security leaks are made public the security is reduced yet another notch by providing more information to the wrong people. IMO only very few trusted people should have access to such information. Not the public in general. That's just logical and sensible IMO.

If someone cracks your home security system are you seriously believing that if you publish the information that your home will be more secure because this will help someone else to figure out a better system? In the meantime your home is vulnerable to not just the one who cracked it, but literally thousands of thieves just itching to get in because until now they haven't figured out how.

I believe, for example, Jeff gave Ron some special abilities that others don't have for a good reason. Publicizing every security discovery is not only risky, but, well, stupid IMO, if your intentions are truly benevolent.

Security matters are generally best handled on a restricted basis, not publishing for all eyes to see. Take for example the NSA policy in dealing with security matters:
The "need-to-know" policy means that classified information will be disseminated only to those individuals who, in addition to possessing a proper clearance, have a requirement to know this information in order to perform their official duties (need-to-know).

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you leak or publish secrets you are in effect promoting a rapid spiral of degeneration in security.

This is just my opinion, and you have every right to disagree. But please don't hack my beloved game, and publish your discoveries, and tell me it is good for me.

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NingunOtro wrote on Fri, 17 February 2006 04:27

I really should learn smiley-language!

Let me demonstrate:

nice version

Damn right! Often it's hard to tell the difference between someone being funny/smug/snide/angry without some way of passing on body langugage or tone of voice. Smileys are a good way to convey tone into your message.

mean version

Damn right! Often it's hard to tell the difference between someone being funny/smug/snide/angry without some way of passing on body langugage or tone of voice. Smileys are a good way to convery tone into your message.

Without the smileys it's up to the imagination of the reader to decide which way to read the paragraph (context does help, but we all still get it wrong sometimes!)

So... If you want to learn, you might like to check out this crash course in excessive smiley usage:
http://starsautohost.org/sahforum/index.php?t=msg&th=159 5&start=0&rid=326&S=34dfeed9b5aac07c66e32670c2fe 0a82
If anyone can find anything to top EDogs post there I'll give them a prize

[edit: by the way, I don't advocate cruelty to smileys. Like alcohol, consumption in moderation is ok, but excessive use can lead to the breakdown of relationships, or at least just the breakdown of the meaningfull content of your posts.]

[Updated on: Fri, 17 February 2006 00:08]

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Dogthinkers wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 08:23

All we need is two things: 1) Someone who knows their way around the x files (i.e. PricklyPea) needs to actually write the script.

I assume you mean me

In any case: Done.

Not tested seriously yet though, I need to work out a way of doing so which won't drive me insane(r)

Dogthinkers wrote on Wed, 15 February 2006 08:23

2) We need to persuade Ron that this is actually a good idea... The main issues here being legal exposure (seems non-existent seeing as the product is no longer available for purchase, but still...) and the loss of the only practical method of uniquely indentifing players, short of requiring proof of ID on signup...

I think Ron doesn't require convincing at this point But I've notified him of my new little gadget, so even if he isn't reading this thread anymore, I should hear what he thinks. If in doubt, I'll keep this thread posted.

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Ron wrote on Mon, 13 March 2006 14:39

Only Jeff McBride has that program (and the Stars! source code) -- on an old hard drive (along with lots of other old hard drives) in a box somewhere.

You mean... if something were to happen to that hard drive, then the original source code for Stars! will be forever lost?!

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Ron wrote on Mon, 13 March 2006 20:39

Only Jeff McBride has that program (and the Stars! source code) -- on an old hard drive (along with lots of other old hard drives) in a box somewhere.

That's... interesting. What's exactly the legal status of that keygen program?

And that source code, slowly fading onto oblivion... it definitely deserves to have a backup copy stashed somewhere else!

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Quote:

Two players can use the same serial as long as they also use the same computer, so you and your son can play in the same game that way. Also, you can both play with the same serial on different computers as long as you're not in the same game. So you could play a few hot seat games with him, and if he wants to play a PBEM, you could become an 'advisor'.

Thanks for the suggestion, for now thats what we are doing. The game will work best if he can sit at his own PC. That way I can exercise my extreme geekdom while passing on to my son at the same time

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redgeopower wrote on Wed, 15 March 2006 15:15

Quote: Two players can use the same serial as long as they also use the same computer, so you and your son can play in the same game that way. Also, you can both play with the same serial on different computers as long as you're not in the same game. So you could play a few hot seat games with him, and if he wants to play a PBEM, you could become an 'advisor'. Thanks for the suggestion, for now thats what we are doing. The game will work best if he can sit at his own PC. That way I can exercise my extreme geekdom while passing on to my son at the same time

Well, if you want a chance to exercise your geekdom, consider this extreme option for you to maintain your geeky independence:

Set up a Terminal Server, that you can both open seperate terminal sessions to simultaneously, then install Stars! on that machine. This way you could access stars from different locations simultaneously, yet still technically only be playing on the one computer (the server.) For example, Stars! runs fine on Windows Server 2003, which can do it. There are a few software solutions that can accomplish the same thing, although I don't know if there's any freeware capable of doing it, short of installing linux

[Updated on: Tue, 14 March 2006 23:40]

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